'Let's travel near the firewall,' the Siren suggested. 'That way we can cross over and risk the fire if the griffins turn out to be too ferocious.'
They did that. But soon the bog closed in, squeezing them against the firewall. The colored fins paced them eagerly.
Chem halted. 'I think we have to make a decision,' she
said as she updated her map-image.
'I'll check the other side,' Smash said, setting down the Siren. He stepped across the firewall.
He was at the edge of the fumaroles, amidst fresh ashes. Not far north the forest fire continued to rage.
There was no safe passage here!
He saw a shape in the ashes. Curious, he uncovered it. It was the burned-out remnant of a large tree trunk, still smoldering. The fall of ashes had smothered it before it finished its own burning. Smash wondered when a tree of this size ever had a chance to grow here. Maybe it had fallen across the firewall from the other side.
Then he bad a notion. He put his gloved hamhands on the charred log and heaved it back through the firewall. Then he stepped through himself. 'A boat,' he announced. 'A boat!' Tandy exclaimed, delighted. 'Of course!' They went to work with a will, scraping out ashes and burned-out fragments and splinters. Then they launched the dugout craft in the muck. Smash ripped out a sapling to use as a pole so he could shove their boat forward. He remembered traveling similarly with Prince Dor. But this was more challenging, because now he had responsibility for the party.
The colored fins crowded in as the craft slid through the bog. At length Smash became annoyed, and used the tip of his pole to poke at the nearest fin. There was a chomp, and the pole abruptly shortened.
Angry, Smash reached out with a gauntleted hand and caught hold of the offending fin. He heaved it out of the water.
The creature turned out to be fishlike, with strong flukes and sharp teeth. 'What are you?' Smash demanded, shaking it. The thing was heavy, but Smash had over half his ogre strength back now and was able; to control his captive.
'I'm a loan shark, idiot!' the fish responded, and Smash did not have the wit, until his Eye Queue jogged him snidely later, to marvel that a fish spoke human language. 'Want to borrow anything? Prompt service, easy terms.'
'Don't do it!' John cried. 'You borrow from one of them, it'll take an arm and a leg in return. That's how they live.'
'You have already borrowed part of my pole,' Smash told the shark. 'I figure you owe me. I'll take a fin and a fluke.'
'That's not the way it works!' the shark protested. 'No one skins sharks!'
'There is always a first time,' Smash said. He had a fundamental understanding of this kind of dealing.
He put his other hand on the thing's tail and began to pull.
The shark struggled and grunted, but could not free itself. 'What do you want?' it screamed. 'I want to get out of this bog,' Smash said. 'I'll get you out!' The shark was quite accommodating, now that it was in a bad position. 'Just let me go!' 'Don't trust it any farther than you can throw it,' John advised.
Smash was not about to. He used one finger to poke a hole in the shark's green fin and passed Chem's rope through it. Then he heaved the creature forward. It landed with a dull muddy splash before the dugout, the rope pulling taut. 'That's as far as I can throw it,' Smash said.
The shark tried to swim away, but as it moved, it hauled the boat along behind. It was not trustworthy, but it seemed to be seaworthy. Or bogworthy.
'Now you can swim anywhere you want to, Sharky,' Smash called to it. 'But I'll loose the rope only when we reach the north edge of this bog.'
'Help! Help me, brothers!' the shark called to the other fins that circled near.
'Are you helpless?' one called back. 'In that case, I'll be happy to tear you apart.'
'Sharks never help each other,' John remarked. 'That's why they don't rule Xanth.'
'Ogres don't help each other, either,' Smash said. 'The same for most dragons.' And he realized that he had suffered another fundamental revelation about the nature of power. Human beings helped each other, and thus had become a power in Xanth far beyond anything that could be accounted for by their size or individual magic.
Meanwhile, the loan shark got the message. It was living on borrowed time, unless it moved. It thrust north, and the bog fairly whizzed by. Soon they were at the north bank.
They climbed out, and Smash unthreaded the rope. The shark vanished instantly. No one sympathized with it; it had for once been treated as it treated others.
But now the griffins came. Probably another shark had snitched, so the griffins had been alert for the party's arrival. Since the creatures probably intended no good, Smash stepped quickly across the firewall for a peek at that situation. He found himself in the middle of the forest fire. No hope there!
The great bird-headed, lion-bodied creatures lined up, inspecting the motley group. The monsters were the color of shoe polish. Then they charged.
Smash reacted automatically. He swung his pole, knocking the first griffin back. Then he dived across the firewall, ripped a burning sapling out of the ground, dived back, and hurled the flaming mass at the remaining griffins. The sapling was of firewood, which burned even when green; in a moment the wing
feathers of the griffins were burning.
The monsters squawked and hurled themselves into the bog to douse the flames. The colored fins of the sharks clustered close. 'You're using our muck!' a shark cried. 'You owe us a wing and a paw!'
The griffins did not take kindly to this solicitation. A battle erupted. Muck, feathers, and pieces of fin flew outward, and the mud boiled.
Smash and the girls walked northwestward, following the curve of the firewall, leaving the violence behind. The landscape was turning nicer, with occasional fruit and nut trees, so they could feed as they traveled.
The Siren, rested by her tour in the boat and periodic dippings of her tail, found she could walk now.
That lightened Smash's burden.
There were birds here, flitting among the trees, picking at the trunks, scratching into the ground. The farther the party went, the more there were. Now and then, flocks darkened the sky. Not only were they becoming more numerous, they were getting larger.
Then a flight of really large birds arrived-the fabulous rocs. These birds were so big they could pick up a medium-sized dragon and fly with it. Was their intent friendly or hostile?
A talking parrot dropped down. 'Ho, strangers!' it hailed them 'What melodies bring you to Birdland?'
Smash looked at the parrot. It was all green and red, with a downcurving beak. 'We only seek to pass through,' he said. 'We are going north.'
'You are going west,' the bird said.
So they were; the gradually curving firewall had turned them about They reoriented, bearing north.
'Welcome to pass through Birdland,' the parrot said.
'There will be a twenty per cent poll tax. One of your number will have to stay here.'
'That isn't fair!' Tandy protested. 'Each of us has her own business.'
'We are not concerned with fairness,' the poll replied, while the horrendously huge rocs drifted lower, their enormous talons dangling. 'We are concerned with need. We need people to cultivate our property so there will be more seeds for us to eat. So we hold a reasonable share of those who pass.'
'A share-for slavery?' Tandy demanded, her spunky spirit showing again.
'Call it what you will. One of you will stay-or all will stay. The tax will be paid.' And the rocs dropped lower yet. 'Poll your number to determine the one.'
Smash knew it would be useless to fight. He might break the claws of one roc, but another would carry away the girls. The big birds had too much power. 'We'll see,' he said.
Tandy turned on him. 'We'll seel You mean you'll go along with this abomination?'
'We don't have much choice,' Smash said, his Eye Queue once again dominating his better ogre nature.
'We'll just have to cross this land, then decide who will remain.'
'You traitor!' Tandy flared. 'You coward!'
The Siren tried to pacify her, but Tandy moved away, her face red and body stiff, and hurled an invisible tantrum at Smash. It struck him on the chest, and its impact was devastating. Smash staggered back, the wind
